The One Question to Ask in an Exit Interview

When workers are on their way out, exit interviews can make a difference.

Exit interviews are seen as a mostly meaningless ritual – career experts advise departing workers not to say anything too charged, and by the time they’ve sat down to explain reasons for leaving, employees are largely out the door.

But these interviews can give management insights that could prevent future turnover, if only human-resource managers asked the right questions, experts say.

Generally, HR pros open an exit interview by asking “Why are you leaving?”

While useful to a point, HR could be asking a far more revealing question: “What made you start looking for another job in the first place?” says Sharlyn Lauby, who blogs at www.hrbartender.com and is president of HR consulting firm ITM Group, Inc.

The standard questions tend to yield a few canned answers, says Lauby, such as salary (“I’ll be making $10,000 more in the new position”) or work-life balance issues (“My commute will be shorter” or “With my new schedule, I can make it to my kid’s soccer games”). These answers might lead the HR manager to recommend that a company review its compensation policies or decide to offer telecommuting options.

By finding out what spurred valued staffers to look elsewhere, managers can get to the real reasons employees feel disengaged or unhappy. Revelations about bad bosses or other organizational dysfunction — both topics that workers are discouraged to bring up in exit conversations so as not to burn bridges — may emerge in the process of recounting why the workers agreed to take that call from a recruiter or clicked on a link to a job posted by a friend on Facebook or Twitter.

Such insights could lead a company to take meaningful action, such as offering more management training or addressing other problems driving workers away.

People on their way out often don’t want to be too candid, partly so they can be confident of receiving a positive reference in the future. Or they’re just apathetic: What’s the point of enduring an awkward conversation about a company’s or boss’s shortcomings when you only have to put up with those problems for a few more days?

To encourage candor, Karen Skillings, an HR manager at Munich Reinsurance America Inc., says she assures departing employees that their answers are confidential and can help the company make positive changes.

Skillings said that her company uses exit conversations as “a data point.” Information is entered into a database to help HR leaders to identify trends in, say, compensation issues or whether employees are leaving in large numbers for particular competitors.

For those who see their exit interview as a chance to deal a blow to their boss’s career, well, don’t hold your breath.

Complaints about a particular colleague or manager will occasionally get results, she said, adding “we may step in to provide feedback or coaching to that manager.” However, such situations are rare, she noted.

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